With its first scrimmage scheduled for tomorrow, the Cal football team took it easy in a helmets-only practice on a cool Monday afternoon at Memorial Stadium. The Bears worked primarily on technique during the two-hour session, and there were no competitive 7-on-7 or team sessions between the offense and defense -- they'll see each other up close tomorrow in full pads and at full speed.

"They've been practicing really well," coach Jeff Tedford said. "Now (the coaches) are getting off the field, we're going to let them play. We're looking for organization, discipline -- on offense getting out of the huddle and executing and on defense making sure that we're assignment perfect."

Tedford said that he doubts tailback Jahvid Best will participate in the scrimmage. Best is still nursing a sore toe that bothers him when he cuts, and he hasn't had a full day of practice since last Wednesday. He spent a good amount of today's practice softening up his hands on the tennis ball machine and caught a few balls thrown to him by Tedford.

In Best's absence, Tedford said, Shane Vereen should play limited series tomorrow and younger backs like Dasarte Yarnway, Kevin Lewis and Langston Jackson will all see significant playing time. Redshirt freshman Covaughn DeBoskie-Johnson will be watching from the sideline, as he has been out for the last two days with what Tedford called a pulled muscle.

"Dasarte will probably play quite a bit," Tedford said. "We'll see what he can do. We pretty much know what Shane can do -- we're not going to play Shane too much."

Kevin Riley and Brock Mansion will split time with the first- and second-team offensive groups. Receiver Nyan Boateng and linebacker Mychal Kendricks -- both of whom missed multiple practices last week with concussions -- practiced in their normal jerseys this afternoon and will play tomorrow, as will cornerback Darian Hagan.

"I have no doubt there's going to be great effort," Tedford said. "Really, execution is what we're looking for."

Tedford said that he will be watching how "everyone" reacts to the live situations. One position of general interest would be the outside linebacker spot vacated by Zack Follett -- tomorrow will be the most realistic opportunity of the young season for senior Devin Bishop and junior transfer Jarred Price to show how far they've come in replacing Cal's biggest playmaker on defense last season. Asked what he'll be watching for with Bishop and Price, linebackers coach Kenwick Thompson echoed Tedford almost exactly.

"I want them to come out and execute," Thompson said. "You look for guys who can execute the plan and do their job at a high level, and then you look for the ability to make plays."

Safety Marcus Ezeff did not wear a protective boot for his sprained right ankle at practice and worked in with the defense during slow-speed technique drills. He looked mobile, hopping on his right foot on the sidelines, but continued to wear the red jersey. Alex Lagemann returned to practice after missing Sunday's session due to illness.

Quick Hits

-- A new player was present at Monday's practice wearing No. 39 and taking reps at long snapper. Tedford said that Clark Porter was already a student on campus and that Porter approached him last year about snapping for the team. When running back Peter Geurts left the team last week, it opened a spot in fall camp for Porter to come in and take some reps.

-- Having sat out of spring ball and now having missed several days of full-pad practice, Best hasn't had too many chances to re-acclimate himself to absorbing football hits. Tedford said it is important that Best experiences some contact during fall camp and that -- although Best will not participate tomorrow -- it's better to get that experience sooner than later.

"You try to do it earlier in camp," Tedford said. "You try to get that work done now so that the week of a game, you don't have to."

Not including tomorrow's scrimmage, the team has seven full-pad practices left before Maryland week.

-- The Bears spent several periods working on onside kicks. Giorgio Tavecchio and David Seawright took several reps each, with Tavecchio showing some good hang time on one of them.

-- Devin Bishop, on filling the shoes left by Zack Follett: "I think I have a pretty good fit. I think I need to fill it out a little bit more. It's like a size 11 shoe, I'm like a 10 1/2 right now, but by the time the game comes around it should be a perfect fit."

Tags: JAHVID BEST, FALL CAMP, JEFF TEDFORD, CAL, CALIFORNIA GOLDEN BEARS, CAL FOOTBALL